Football Preview: It's Western; 'Nuff Said

And to Central Michigan, that is plenty of motivation. In 2026, the Western Michigan game takes on more importance for the Chippewas, who need a win to bounce back from last week's loss at Ohio and to remain relevant in the Mid-American Conference race.

CMU is 3-3, 1-1 MAC after a 31-14 loss to the Bobcats last week. The defending MAC-champion Broncos are 4-2, 2-0.

The bitter rivals meet for the 97thtime with the Victory Cannon Trophy, and, of course, bragging rights at stake. "We're going to be underdogs in the game, and it's a chance to get a signature win, and win the victory cannon, and I mean, it would be really, really fun to see all that happen, because you know how much this game means to everyone at Central Michigan and Mount Pleasant," second-year CMU coachMatt Drinkallsaid.

"It is a humongous game for everybody. We've had former coaches come in, former players come in, who have been able to frame the game as many different ways as possible so our players understand.

It's good to put in perspective for those guys how many people our program impacts. It's just another great touch point to see the great community we represent and how to support them.

When you come to college and your college football team is going to play, it's for an environment like this. Our students and our fans make an enormous impact on the game itself; the home field advantage here is that we're all fighting the opponent together.

I'm really, really excited for this game and for this matchup just because of the environment that will be here at Kelly/Shorts." The Chippewas found themselves in a 31-0 halftime hole last week at Ohio. And while CMU was much better in the second half, it was not nearly enough to overcome the deficit.

Clearly, the Chippewas have to be better, not only this week against the Broncos, but for the remainder of the season if they hope to be a factor in the MAC race. "I think we came out ready to play," Drinkall said.

"What we didn't do well was weather the first two big pieces of adversity that happened on the first two series."